Grays Harbor Transit, you never disappoint...

I'm on the bus to Olympia to have lunch with Wendy, because Jim's new job doesn't give him a long enough lunch to join us. Afterwards, I'm off to Danger Room to pick up my too-long-neglected pull list (a month and a half).

Currently, I'm listening to a woman with facial injuries that is apparently in need of mental help or something. She is claiming police brutality from Hoquiam PD, and is on her way to Montesano to press charges against HPD. She also claims to be an American citizen from Canada, who has $10million that she is going to get from Canada, and bring to the US to help our economy.

Oh, and she says she's blind, but is also talking about having seen someone at the Aberdeen bus station with facial boils all over.

...

I feel odd, hearing all of this. This woman isn't the only person on the Harbor with a variety of issues, whether any of them are genuine, or a delusion brought on by mental illness. Often, experiences like this make me wish that I could help those that need it, in some way.

But, for now, I'm going to conserve phone battery and quit using it. If you need me, I'll be reading on my Kindle and trying to tune out the rest of this crowded, crowded bus.

#firstworldproblems

I think that my foot should start paying rent to my mouth. Sometimes, I make such an ass out of myself that I think my attempts to learn languages will just mean I can do it with more people, more often. On another note, though....

It's been over a month since I blogged, either here or at Sympathy For The Devil, but that's not entirely for lack of effort. 2013 has not been a good year for my devices. Just in the seven weeks that it's been around, this year has killed (or tried to kill) most of the technology I own. Let's go for a rundown:

While taking pictures at Jim and Wendy's wedding last month, the screen on my camera decided to shit on itself. The camera itself still works and takes pictures, but because I don't have a working screen, I can't preview the images or switch it to video capture. The only good thing is that, if I keep using it, it might improve my "eye for pictures". Sure, it's stuck on the current settings from the last time I changed them, but being unable to rely on the screen to check the picture before taking it means relying on myself.

Then, my laptop decided that it has taken enough abuse. It's been my primary computer for... three years now? Sounds right. It's an Acer netbook with a 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB of RAM (1 GB that I bought and was shown how to install by Ralph). When I tell people that an Acer netbook has been my mostly-reliable primary computer for that long, they're usually surprised. Nowadays, the zero key is missing and both Shift keys are unreliable. Moving it too abruptly sometimes causes the screen to go ass-up, and the WLAN is going out -- sometimes it'll lose connection after an hour or two, other times after five minutes. Restarting it fixes it, but only temporarily.

Lastly, the Kindle. It got knocked out of my hand (by accident) because someone on the bus bumped into me while I was reading it. Half of the screen doesn't work anymore, but because it was only barely out of warranty, the customer support guy gave me a discount toward my next one. All in all, it cost me half of what I paid for my first Kindle to replace it.

The only regularly-used piece of tech that hasn't really had issues is my phone. So, that's why you're getting a 3AM blog from the phone. And if it has shitty formatting, I'll fix it when I can get on a real computer. :-)

Goodbye, 2012! Hellooooo, 2013!

2012 was a much better year than I expected it to be, when it started! Most years, I've felt pretty "meh" at the end, and describing it as a crap year, hoping for better from the upcoming year. This year, sticking with the whole "hope for better", but... 2012 was a good year for me!

Buckle in, because this post might get a bit long. Here's a breakdown of 2012 in my corner of the world:

I took part in Karaoke Ring of Death for the first (and, so far, only) time!

That same month, I decided to review an album, 

because I kind of missed writing review posts. 

Then, at the beginning of February, I decided that I wanted to blog every day

for an entire year. It only took about two months to fail....

For a little while, burritos were king. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

I was the burrito king, making a few dozen at a time, then freezing/reheating.

Gay marriage was legalized in Washington -- by lawmakers, and later by voters!

I still stand by my offer to officiate ceremonies whenever needed, too -- for all couples,

gay, straight, and anything else that Washington state allows.

I started working on Project: SAMSON, which got shelved a little while ago.

Still plan on putting it out, but I'm working on other things soon. It had an artist, and

then I lost touch with that artist. Someone else took an interest, and I haven't

really heard from her since. So, you know... shelving it made sense.

The ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE STARTED... or not. The tastebud apocalypse

definitely happened, though -- the idea for the 5-Alarm Fire Burger was born!

The Wall of Geek started small in March(left),
and has gotten much bigger now (right)!

Now, it's got one of my autographed HEROES pictures, two Doctor Who posters,

the box from my Kindle, a framed panel of Parallax beating Superman from DC's

Zero Hour (I think), a dreamcatcher that I've had for years, and 

the koi that Jynni drew for my birthday, just before we started dating.

I took a blog meme from The Tsaritsa Sez, one of my favorite People From The Internet!

Some random artist on the bus to Olympia sketched me.

We talked for a bit, he let me take a picture of the sketch

because I liked it, and I told him that I was looking for

an artist. Unfortunately, I didn't have a card, and he didn't

reach out, here on the site.

Also, I might have made a Thing. But, you know, probably not.

I did find out that wrong numbers can be fun, and had a 

bad experience with some plumbers.

With help from the Hogabooms, I even got to peer into space

and take pictures of Saturn through a telescope. Even now,

looking back at the blurry pictures of a planet that is an

unimaginable distance away, it's humbling. The universe is amazing.

I've become part of a regular D&D group, too! We've been meeting at least once

or twice a month since this summer, and have a pretty good storyline going!

I came in to my own as a pretty great cook this year, too.

With recipes and without, I made some excellent stuff -- even

baking, which is something I thought I was incapable of doing well.

Behold, the collage of deliciousness!

1) Two-cheese baked chicken

2) Steak breakfast burritos

3) Sweet and sour steak

4) Banana bread

5) Sun Chip chicken

6) Sweet chili & garlic steak cuts

7) Coconut chicken curry tacos

Not pictured: Pepperoni pizza

And I got my writing out there, too! I started writing the occasional post for 

Grays Harbor Down back in May, applied for a job as a reporter, and got some articles

about realty in a local free monthly newspaper, working with a realtor friend.

I wrote a "memorial" for an online community that abruptly disappeared, and started

WHO KILLED HERMES?, a novel that I'm always excited to write about

Lastly, I joined the world of comic book blogging with a Blue Devil blog!

The most important thing that happened this year, though, was that I fell in love. I met Jynni in May after having known her dad for years. We started dating at the end of July, and even though it's long-distance, we're closer every day. Four days in, her 8 year old brother asked if Jynni was going to get me an engagement ring.

It's been nine months since we started talking daily, and seven months since we started dating. Some people might consider it a bit early to be as confident as I am, but I can see this relationship lasting for a while. Her daughter adores me, and we want so many of the same things out of life. Considering everything this relationship has going for it, I can overlook the fact that she thinks Michelangelo is a more awesome Ninja Turtle than Donatello.

THAT was my 2012. I'm excited for 2013! There are already plans in the works, like being the minister for Jim and Wendy's wedding in a few days!

What do you have planned for 2013?

Every movie would be better with dancing Goombas!

With that title alone, this final post of 2012 makes me proud! It comes from the thread on 20SB for "so-bad-they're-good" movies, and it is part of my defense of Super Mario Bros. as awesome. Call it horrible all you like, but I will always love that movie.

You know what? Now that I'm talking about it, and thinking about it, I need to figure out what box it is in. The VCR is hooked up, the universal remote is programmed for it, now I just need to find this, so I can have fun with dancing Goombas and an ensemble of overacting celebrities that have done much more impressive work since.

Right now, though, I don't think finding this movie should be my priority. I'm working on my first pizza dough, and by "working on" I mean "finding something to do online while I wait and see if the dough will rise and I didn't fuck it all up". Maybe I should do some sort of year in review post like other, better bloggers....Nah. I'll stick with trying to not-fuck-up pizza dough, and having a back-up plan of breadsticks or crackers or something if it didn't turn out right.

Has anybody out there made pizza from scratch before? Any tips for me?

Or, on the other hand, any people aside from me love Super Mario Bros., the movie? I can't be the only one!

Yeah... about that? Sorry.

Remember that whole "two jobs" thing? Well, it's back down to one now, entirely through faults of my own. Want a protip? Don't take a job without thinking about whether or not it's the right fit, just because the money is (a very small amount) better.

So, I quit the new job after two days, because it felt wrong. While I can't legally go into specifics, I felt that the clients they were going to have me be caregiver to deserved someone who had an actual interest in the work. There was a bit more to it, but the main deciding factor for me was that I think it would have taken me a while to not feel wrong about taking the job for financial reasons alone -- and, despite appearances (and my own opinion) to the contrary, it would seem that I have something resembling a conscience.

There's been a lot that has happened in the ten days since I blogged last, and not just in my neck of the woods. I'm not going to go into detail on the sad events in Newtown, because I'm sure you've all heard about it. Instead, I'm going to step over that, and highlight a couple awesome things involving some great people I know:

• V/H/S, a movie with Jas Sams from Smile Big And Pretty in it, was in the local Redbox. I rented it solely on that, and while it wasn't the best movie, it had some great parts to it. I might've liked it more if I liked the whole "found footage" thing more.
• Lauren Danger, the awesome rocker-chick that fronts (and is the only consistent member of) The Want Ads, put up a new music video for "We Don't Know How It's Ending". You should watch it. How can you not love a band that includes a hand-written thank-you note when you buy the CD?

I'm sure there's more, but it's 1:30 in the morning... what more do you want from me?! 

It feels good to be posting again, and hopefully I'll have something good for you soon! Like maybe a story/recap (storycap?) of my D&D group's adventure soon? Hmmmm....

Anyway, I'm going to go work on WKH? and then talk to the woman I love. I hope your night is going as well, if not better. :)

No more free time!

As of Monday, I'll be working two jobs! So, that little bit of time where I wasn't working? ... Yeah, that's gone now.

After applying on Wednesday and getting an interview Thursday morning, I'm going to be training to be a caregiver starting Monday before my shift at "Murphy's". Unfortunately the job is only part-time for now, which is why I'll be doing both jobs. You can bet that, if I like the job, as soon as they offer full-time, I'm going for it.

You know what it means to be working two jobs? MONEY! Neither job is amazing pay, buuuuut having both of them will mean that I can get caught up on bills -- ahead on bills, even! -- and start saving up for things. I'm going to try and go with Sweeney's example and allocate my time better -- no to-be-broken promises about blogging more, but we'll see if I can make time for the occasional post.

Now, though, I'm going to enjoy my smoothie. See ya!